passing it on

Last night I taught the placement class for L III at Turning Pointe. The girls who took the class were eager, bright and hard workers. One of them in particular reminded me much of myself at her tender age of 14. She wants to take private lessons, so I'll be doing this on the weekends this summer. I remember being 14 and taking private lessons in Yankton, SD. It was so wonderful to get totally obsessed with the small things and get feedback on everything. I hope that I can give her the experience she is craving. 

I'm filled to overflowing with thankfulness for this opportunity to teach what I know, to duplicate what I've been given and to pass on what I have learned. Hopefully, not just in the areas of plie and grand battement, but in the struggle of prioritizing God, seeing yourself in truth and not the lie of a mirror image, and enjoying dance without it consuming one's life. These have been hard truths for me to learn and live by. I never thought I would really dance again because of my struggle in some areas....mostly that of total idolatry of dance. But God is so good! Once we can come to the place of putting everything on the alter and worship him alone, he never fails to give us back what he desired us to have in the first place....but this time with purity of heart and mind and a joy that surpasses knowledge. 

Sweet Allegra

So, you knew it couldn't be long before pictures of my girl showed up in the blog. Here is a cute sequence of shots taken on Sunday in the back yard. She was being adorable...romping around in the grass and crawling after the bat and ball in a tutu dress. 

A memory for memorial day weekend

So our vacation weekend is going great so far. Scott had to work 13 hours on Saturday, but it is making us determined to enjoy the rest of our time. There has been one little mishap though. I got my first hole in one golfing - but it was a hole in one of our windows! That's right, I put a ball through our bedroom window while practicing in the backyard. I still can't believe it. Thankfully, we need new windows anyway - now we have the motivation. Ahhh.

Make A Way

Well, I'm sitting at the computer with a steaming bowl of oatmeal a la crasins and honey, sighing at the completion of the Make a Way night. It went really well! I was praying before going on that God would just use me like a clay vessel - fill me up and pour me out. It went off without a hitch and I didn't even stumble down the 5 stairs of "Jacob's Ladder", yay! But seriously, it is always SO amazing to dance a piece that's all about God. Sometimes I am sad that my dream of dancing in a big professional company never came true, but then I realize the company and host of heaven is a much more prestigious group to be employed by. And I'm so thankful that God has "made a way" for me to dance again after also blessing me with Scott and our three children. He always does above and beyond what we could ever hope or imagine. 

 

Angel Wings

Well, I did a little sewing yesterday.. very little. If you know me at all you know that I am not a seamstress like my mother. But, when I have ideas for costumes I can sort of hand sew it together...not too pretty up close - but thankfully the audience will be about 20 ft. away! Our dress rehearsal is tonight and the performance is tomorrow. I'd love some prayers that it would run smoothly and bless many!

power of obedience

This morning I've been reading in Genesis 22, the account of Abraham's faith in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. Verse 18, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." What power there is in obedience! My point being - God was able to send Jesus Christ for our salvation because of Abraham's faith. 

That may seem like an odd statement, perhaps limiting God, but He has always chosen to limit his activity on earth according to men's faith (Matthew 9:29). This was the awesome moment of the faith being released! In Hebrews 11:17-19 it states that Abraham believed God would raise Isaac from the dead. And, in verse 8 of Genesis 22 Abraham tells Isaac, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." And he did! Jesus, the perfect lamb from heaven was provided by God to redeem us back to himself. Amazing! Abraham had the faith for all of these things and acted on the WORD of God, therefore God released his WAY for everyone.

In a couple of days I am going to have the privilege of dancing in a piece called Make A Way for our women's banquet at church. It is a song sung from Abraham's perspective on his journey to Mt. Moriah, struggling with obeying God and giving up his son. It is very emotional. My part is to be the angel that stops him from heaven. I am dancing, of course, and as I've prayed about how to characterize an angel, I've felt that the appropriate way is to share the emotion of God towards Abraham. I do not believe God was aloof and cold in this crux of Abraham's life and relationship with God and with his son, Isaac. I think God understood perfectly what he was asking of Abraham, both emotionally and spiritually. I'm in awesome fear to be dancing such a unique role. Most of what I've done in way of Christian dance is from a human standpoint towards God, not God to man. And I find as I delve into it, God's emotion, passion and desire for us FAR exceeds ours toward him. How MUCH he loves us! He asked of Abraham to partake in that extreme love of sacrificing what is most precious in order to gain a relationship above and beyond our ability to comprehend. Jesus is the deepest passion of God, as Isaac was to Abraham, but God did the unthinkable in giving him as a sacrifice for our sins so that we could be caught up in this amazing love. 

What's the "pointe"

Well, here it is! Yes, I have succumbed to the inevitable blogging. I guess my sister pushed me over the fence with her last email asking when I would start. Here goes, Tavi! See how much influence you still have on your little sister? 

Being someone who has kept a journal with real paper and pen since the age of ten, logging thoughts comes naturally. However! Those were all private recordings and this of course, is the exact opposite. It makes me more than a tad cautious, but mostly I'm geared up to get these ideas out there in the www. Also, I want to get some feed back... so please comment as much as you like! 

The subjects I'll be blogging the most about are dance, motherhood, and writing; how these things are influenced by my belief in the God/man Jesus Christ and how these aspects of humanity can be developed and understood more fully. I am a Christian and exceedingly passionate about filtering this triad - dance, motherhood and writing - through my faith.

So, if you're interested in any of these areas, interested in God stuff, or just wondering what in the world I've got going through my head... come visit and please tell me what you think. Thanks.